NatWest boss Alison Rose resigns over Nigel
Farage Coutts account row
Former Ukip leader obtained report suggesting media
coverage of his political views was considered in Coutts closure decision
Anna Isaac
and Kalyeena Makortoff
Wed 26 Jul
2023 09.00 BST
Dame Alison
Rose, the chief executive of NatWest Group, has stood down after a row over the
closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account with the private bank Coutts, which
NatWest owns.
Rose has
resigned from the banking group after the former UK Independence party leader
complained to the BBC about a report that claimed his accounts with Coutts were
closed for commercial reasons. The broadcaster has since apologised and amended
its story.
Farage said
Rose’s exit was “a start” but called for the whole Natwest board to go. He told
GB News that the resignation “had to happen”, adding: “The first rule of
banking is you have to respect the privacy of the customer.”
The Ukip
leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the entire board ought to quit
because it had approved a statement from Rose earlier on Tuesday in which she
said she had not revealed “any personal financial information”.
He said
this was at odds with the BBC’s letter of apology about its story. The letter
said the BBC had checked with a senior source – whom Rose later confirmed was
herself – that his account was closed because he fell below Coutts’ wealth
threshold: a personal financial revelation.
In a
statement released in the early hours of Wednesday, the NatWest Group chairman,
Sir Howard Davies, said: “The board and Alison Rose have agreed, by mutual
consent, that she will step down as CEO of the NatWest Group. It is a sad
moment.”
In her own
statement, Rose thanked her colleagues “for all that they have done”, adding:
“I remain immensely proud of the progress the bank has made in supporting
people, families and business across the UK, and building the foundations for
sustainable growth.”
Having
announced after markets closed on Tuesday that Rose was set to stay at the
bank, her resignation was then confirmed just before 2am on Wednesday morning.
Her
departure followed a media storm in which several newspapers had called for her
to quit. Reports late on Tuesday citing sources close to No 10 and the
chancellor claimed there were “significant concerns” about her staying in her
role. By 11pm, shortly after front pages were revealed, the board of NatWest
were locked in emergency talks over her future.
The City
minister Andrew Griffith tweeted: “It is right that the NatWest CEO has
resigned. This would never have happened if NatWest had not taken it upon
itself to withdraw a bank account due to someone’s lawful political views. That
was and is always unacceptable.
“I hope the
whole financial sector learns from this incident. Its role is to serve
customers well and fairly – not to tell them how or what to think.”
Rose had
admitted earlier on Tuesday that she was the source of a controversial BBC
story about Farage’s bank accounts, and for which she issued a grovelling
apology.
Commercial
considerations – falling below a wealth threshold – were one reason why his
accounts could be closed, said a dossier obtained by Farage using a subject
access request. However, the documents also showed that media coverage of
Farage’s political views was weighed up while discussing whether to retain him
as a client.
The former
Ukip leader had claimed that his bank account was closed on the basis of
“blatant corporate prejudice” or because of rules about financial services for
being a so-called politically exposed person: someone with political
connections that could make them more at risk of receiving corrupt or illegal
payments.
He said “I
can’t get a bank account” in a video on 29 June. However, it is unclear when he
was offered an alternative of accounts with Coutts’ sister lender, the high
street bank NatWest.
In a letter
of apology to Farage sent last week, Rose said the bank would “reiterate” its
offer for “alternative banking arrangements” at NatWest, but that it was sorry
for “deeply inappropriate comments” about the political campaigner.
Davies said
earlier on Tuesday that the board was giving its full backing to its
53-year-old chief executive, who has spent her career at the lender, and
retained the board’s “full confidence”.
Farage said
on Wednesday: “Anybody on that board that backed that statement that was put
out at 17.42 yesterday, a totally unsustainable and untrue statement, anybody
that backed that behaviour, should be gone.”
He called
for “cultural change” at NatWest and in the wider industry, adding: “I think
the politically exposed person rules need to be completely re-interpreted and I
think we have to look at all the anti-money laundering laws.”
Rose said
in her own statement on Tuesday, prior to resigning, that she made a “serious
error of judgment” during a conversation with Simon Jack, the BBC News business
editor, in which she confirmed that the bank had taken a “commercial decision”
in shutting Farage’s Coutts account and offering him a NatWest account. It was
subsequently reported by the BBC that Farage had been expelled from the bank
because its customers were required to hold £3m in savings, or borrow or invest
£1m.
Rose said
that in speaking to the reporter, “I repeated what Mr Farage had already
stated, that the bank saw this as a commercial decision. I would like to
emphasise that in responding to Mr Jack’s questions I did not reveal any
personal financial information about Mr Farage.”
She added:
“Put simply, I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about
this case. I want to extend my sincere apologies to Mr Farage for the personal
hurt this has caused him and I have written to him today.”
Farage said
prior to Rose’s resignation: “Alison Rose has now admitted that she is the
source. She broke client confidentiality, and is unfit to be CEO of NatWest
Group. Meanwhile, Coutts’ CEO, Peter Flavel, must take the ultimate
responsibility for debanking me based on my political views. Sir Howard Davies
is responsible for overall governance. He has clearly failed in this task,
least of all by endorsing their conduct. In my view they should all go.”
NatWest’s
board of directors said Paul Thwaite, the chief executive for commercial and
institutional business, would take over Rose’s responsibilities for an initial
period of 12 months, pending regulatory approval. The board said in a statement
that appointment of a permanent successor would take place “in due course”.
Rose became
the bank’s first female chief executive in late 2019, when it was known as
Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The bank, which was bailed out by taxpayers
during the 2008 financial crisis, is still 38.6% owned by the UK government.
Davies said
the board considered the overall handling of Farage’s accounts had been
“unsatisfactory” and led to “serious consequences for the bank”. He confirmed
that the board would launch an independent review that would look into the
closure and lessons that could be learned.
The Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) said it welcomed NatWest’s independent review, which it
had pressed for when it contacted the group in the wake of Farage’s
allegations.
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